Continuity Errors
Over the years, Only Fools And Horses, while a well written sitcom, has had some historical errors over the years, such as characters ages and the backhistories of the characters has contradicted each other at times. Such as Derek "Del Boy" Trotter said he was 16 when his mum died in 1964 but in Rock & Chips (trilogy) Del was 16 in 1961. Some Only Fools And Horses books, and die hard fans, myself included(Benny1982) have tried to make sense of some of the continuity errors. Some cannot be explained such as Rodney Trotter was 23 in 1981 but 26 in 1989. But the list below lists continuity errors which could be explained. "Slip of the tongue" as Del would say. Luvvly Jubbly. Continuity Errors *In "Big Brother", Rodney Trotter says he is 23. In The Unlucky Winner Is..." he says he is 26. In 1981, actor Nicholas Lyndhurst was 20 but looked about 23. But in 1989 they made Rodney about a year younger than the actor. *Del and Rodney's mum Joan Mavis Trotter died on the 12th March 1964. Rodney says he was 5 when his mum died, and Del says he was 16 when she died. Del was 15 in 1960 in the prequel "Rock And Chips". One theory is, Del was lying about how old he was in 1964 to make it seem he was a responsible adult, bringing up younger brother Rodney from the age of 16, when he was really 19 in 1964. Del Boy Trotter is a charmer and probably has been economical with the family's living memory, or just mistaken, as the memory plays tricks. Rodney was born in November 1960, making him nearly 3 and a half when his mum died. Could be Rodney was not sure how old he was when his mum died, he knows the date but never thought of exactly how old he was at that time. In "Rodney Come Home", Rodney says his memory of his mum is very misty. If he was 3 years old when his mum died, that is plausible. *In Big Brother, Rodney and Trigger, Del's mate, shake hands and are introduced to each other, Trigger says he has only heard of Rodney before but in "Tea for Three" Rodney says he remembers Del dating Trigger's sister when he was young and he used to play with Trigger's niece Lisa. One theory is, Rodney soon realised that Trigger was the man whose sister dated Del, and as Rodney and Trigger had many scenes together in the serial, it clicked. *In "Homesick", Grandad says he wanted to be cremated yet is buried in "Strained Relations". Although Grandad was pretending to be ill in "Homesick", saying his legs were playing him up, and he was pretending he may be dying as well, and may have said that he wants to be cremated as part of the scam to get a bungalow. *Also in the same episode as above, Grandad says he never had a garden, yet in "The Russians Are Coming", his allotment is mentioned, and is seen in "Mother Nature's Son", and surely an allotment would count as a garden. Again, Grandad may fabricate the truth. *In "A Losing Streak", Del Boy says that Boycie is a second hand car dealer from Lewisham, indicating Boycie is not from Peckham, and is just a friend of Del who met him through work and lives in Lewisham. Yet in later episodes, it is said that Boycie went to school with Del and knew him all his life. One theory is, Boycie was originally from Peckham, and an old schoolfriend of Del, but moved away to Lewisham, or his car business was based there, and then he moved back to Peckham by 1983 when it was said he lived in Kings Avenue, Peckham, London, SE15. * In "The Class of '62 it is revealed that Del and his mates all left school in 1962. Yet in Rock And Chips they left school in 1960, after being kicked out a year early. One theory is they went back to school in 1962 to do an exam. This was confirmed in Del's 2015 autobiography. * In "Fatal Extraction", Rodney tells Cassandra that Del didn't turn up at school for his O-Level/GCE exams and got eight straight A's which all stood for "Absent". However, in the second Rock & Chips episode, "Five Gold Rings", Del had already left school before taking his GCE's. His family were fully aware of it, and they did not send Del back to school since he was their breadwinner. However, Del's book He Who Dares confirms that he did go back to school and ended up not attending his exams. * Del and Raquel were never married, yet in "If They Could See Us Now", Raquel states that Del "abandoned his wife and child". Although Del and Raquel may have been common law spouses as they were said to not be married in "Fatal Extraction" yet in the same episode, Del said "I have a wife and kid", and a properly married Rodney said "I have a wife and...thermometer". Category:Only Fools And Horses. Category:Lists.